A leading global food manufacturer has reportedly overhauled its employee bonus program as part of a broader effort to revamp its corporate culture.<\/p>\n
Under the new structure at Nestl\u00e9, people familiar with the move recently told Bloomberg<\/a>, workers deemed \u201cexemplary\u201d could get bonuses of up to 150% of company targets, while those at the other end of the spectrum, or \u201cunsatisfactory,\u201d would get a maximum of 50% of the target \u2014 or no bonus at all.<\/p>\n Most Read in Manufacturing:<\/p>\n The top bonuses were previously capped at 130%, but more importantly, according to the report, the changes represented a dramatic shift from a culture in which nearly all 271,000 employees tended to get bonuses of at least 80% of company targets.<\/p>\n Additional changes included broadening the ranking methodology from three levels to six, and tying bonuses to company and division performance as well as individual measures. Sales volumes are considered particularly important.<\/p>\n A company spokesperson told Bloomberg that the idea \u201cis to really develop people\u201d and \u201cchange how people behave.\u201d<\/p>\n Sales at the Swiss multinational food giant, which owns the Kit Kat chocolate, Nescafe coffee and Purina pet food brands, along with many others, have languished in recent years. The company is seeking to sell<\/a> its ice cream and water businesses, among other assets, and it has announced plans to cut some 16,000 jobs.<\/a><\/p>\n CEO Philipp Navratil, who was appointed to lead the company in September, foreshadowed looming changes to evaluations the following month, remarking<\/a> in a video that it would be \u201ceasy\u201d to see which workers are performing and vowing to \u201cnot keep\u201d ones who aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n He added, \u201cWe will be ruthless in assessing our people.\u201d<\/p>\n